Rudi Assauer: Fading memories of my life

"There are artificial knees, new hip joints, while others enjoy life with a cardiac pacemaker. But the head. The bonce. It can't come worse."

— Rudi Assauer, 2011

The last time I saw Rudi Assauer at a local gas station, he was like a goddamn boss. As always. Smoking one of his trademark cigars (at a gas station!) he carried a huge stack of newspapers under his arm as he headed to his limousine. What means that he still was interested in current affairs and also was able to get things done on his own. This happened less than two years ago.

The 67-year-old, however, then already had to deal with difficulties to articulate himself and occasional blackouts over the last few years. These problems were probably one of the reasons for his inglorious retirement as Schalke manager in 2006 and rumours that he might be an alcoholic one year earlier.

In 2010 Assauer finally underwent an examination at a specialty hospital in Essen. Sad diagnosis: Alzheimer's disease. Since then his condition has deteriorated significantly. He had to give up driving and was constrained to sell his villa and move to his daughter subsequently. But Rudi has always been a fighter and so he started to take the bull by the horns. As a consequence he allowed public-service TV broadcaster ZDF to follow him for about a year and wrote down his memoirs with support of sportswriter Patrick Strasser.

"Wie ausgewechselt: Verblassende Erinnerungen an mein Leben" (English: "Like having been substituted: Fading memories of my life") was published yesterday, February 2nd 2012.

Wish him all the best!

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Senior career stats:
1963–1964 SpVgg Herten 24 (3)
1964–1970 Borussia Dortmund 119 (8)
1970–1976 SV Werder Bremen 188 (4)

Honours as player:
DFB-Pokal: 1964–65 (with Borussia Dortmund)
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1965–66 (with Borussia Dortmund)

Managing career:
1976–1981 SV Werder Bremen
1981–1986 FC Schalke 04
1990–1993 VfB Oldenburg
1993–2006 FC Schalke 04

Honours as manager:
UEFA Cup: 1996–97 (with Schalke 04)
DFB-Pokal: 2000–01 & 2001–02 (with Schalke 04)

Posted in: Alzheimer's disease,biography,Book,Borussia Dortmund,BVB,FC Schalke 04,Media,Rudi Assauer,Schalke 04